Hollingsworth Files Loan on Shelby Drive Facility

The company filed the loan through First Century Bank on July 10, but the Shelby County Register of Deeds didn’t process it until this week.

Built in 1986, the Class B, 585,535-square-foot warehouse sits on 32 acres at the northwest corner of the intersection of East Shelby Drive and Malone Road.

The facility has an appraised value of $8 million, according to the Shelby County Assessor of Property.

Hollingsworth Capital Partners acquired the former Wang’s International building in 2008 via a quitclaim deed from Southeast Office Partners LLC, 33. Hollingsworth filed a $6.4 million loan through First Century Bank at the time of acquisition.

In conjunction with that deal, Southeast Office assigned Hollingsworth its payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) agreement with the city-county Industrial Development Board. The PILOT went into effect in September 2004 and has since expired.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports

– Daily News staff

Mueller to Repurchase Stock for $427.3 Million

Mueller Industries is buying back approximately 10.4 million of its shares owned by Leucadia National Corp. for about $427.3 million.

The Memphis company, which makes copper, brass, plastic and aluminum components for use in plumbing, refrigeration and ventilation systems, said Monday, Sept. 24, that it will pay $41 per share. This is a nearly 15 percent discount to its Friday closing price of $48.17.

New York-based conglomerate Leucadia is selling all of the Mueller shares that it owns, which is approximately 27.2 percent of Mueller’s currently outstanding stock.

Mueller said it will pay for the shares with available cash and borrowings under its existing credit line.

The offering is expected to close by Wednesday. Once it is complete, Leucadia’s board appointees Ian Cumming and Joseph Steinberg will resign from their posts.

– The Associated Press

Digs of Highland Avenue Sub Shop, Whatever in Flux

Two mainstay retail businesses on the Highland strip, Super Submarine Sandwich Shop and smoking accessory and gift shop Whatever, have about six months to find new locales.

That’s because the property owner of 612 S. Highland St. is under contract to sell the 9,628-square-foot strip center to a new owner that will allegedly raze it.

A spokesperson for Palmer Brothers Inc., which manages the property in the University of Memphis neighborhood for the estate of Marion J. Madison, confirmed that the tenants have been given six-months notice, adding that the entire process including due diligence will likely take longer than that.

Jun Hua, owner of Super Submarine Sandwich Shop (also known as Chinese Sub Shop), said she hopes to relocate close by, but finding adequate restaurant space and parking is a challenge. The eatery has been a staple in the community for more than 35 years.

Meanwhile, Whatever plans to occupy the space that formerly housed Double Deuce, next to what is now Juicy Jim’s, by December. The novelty shop has had a presence at 610 S. Highland St. for more than 40 years.

– Sarah Baker

Evans, McWherter Among TVA Board Appointees

The White House has said President Barack Obama intends to nominate Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division board chairman V. Lynn Evans to the board of the Tennessee Valley Authority as well as Jackson businessman and 2010 Democratic nominee for governor Mike McWherter.

MLGW is the largest customer of the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Word of the nominations came through U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee.

“I look forward to visiting with these nominees at the appropriate time and learning more about their views on keeping electricity in the Tennessee Valley low-cost, reliable, and clean,” Alexander said in a written statement.

– Bill Dries

Hall Joins Wyatt Tarrant's Intellectual Property Team

Prior to joining Wyatt, Hall served as chairman of the intellectual property group at Stoll Keenon Ogden PLLC, a law firm in Kentucky. Before becoming an attorney, Hall worked as a chemist, and he got his law degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Law.

Wyatt is a full-service regional law firm with more than 200 lawyers, and offices in Louisville and Lexington, Ky.; Nashville and Memphis; New Albany, Ind.; and Jackson, Miss.

– Andy Meek

Mississippi's Northern District Federal Court Changes Ahead

Legislation to realign the federal court in North Mississippi will condense the existing four divisions into three, according to Republican Sens. Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker.

Cochran and Wicker say the bill now goes to the president and will take effect 60 days after the president signs it.

The northern district court presently hears cases in Oxford, Greenville, Aberdeen and Clarksdale. The division in Clarksdale would be closed under the bill.

Cochran says the realignment should improve the overall operation of the federal judiciary in north Mississippi.

The southern federal court district in Mississippi has divisions in Jackson, Hattiesburg and Gulfport.

– The Associated Press

IMF Chief: Action Needed on Global Economy

The head of the International Monetary Fund says government leaders in Europe and the United States must deliver on commitments they have made to achieve a decisive turn in a global economy fraught with uncertainty.

Christine Lagarde says what is needed is a sustained recovery, not a bounce.

To achieve that objective, she says, decision makers must be real action-takers and deliver on their promises to carry out programs to get their economies back on track.

Lagarde said in a speech Monday, Sept. 24, that the most urgent action was needed in Europe, the epicenter of the crisis. But she also said the United States must avoid plunging off a fiscal cliff of deep government spending cuts and tax increases that could cause another recession and harm the global economy.

– The Associated Press

Bank Fees Further Erode Free Checking Accounts

Truly free checking accounts are becoming rarer as banks add more fees to boost their profits.

Only 39 percent of non-interest checking accounts are free to all customers, according to survey results released Monday, Sept. 24, by financial data publisher Bankrate.com. That’s down from 45 percent last year and 76 percent in 2009.

Among other fees, the average monthly service fee on checking accounts is a record $5.48, up 25 percent from the Bankrate survey a year ago. Also, the average fee charged by an ATM operator to a non-customer rose 4 percent to a record $2.50, Bankrate said.

Customers may be near a breaking point, the survey suggests.

Seventy-two percent of those surveyed said they would consider switching banks if theirs raised its fees on checking accounts, up from 64 percent in March 2011. Households with an income of $75,000 or more are the most likely to switch, at 82 percent, Bankrate said.

The survey was based on an analysis of 477 checking accounts at 247 banks and thrifts.

The largest U.S. banks all offered free checking with no strings attached until 2009. Banks say they have raised fees lately because of federal regulations on debit cards and overdraft policies that stand to cost them billions of dollars in annual revenue.

Yet new data shows that overdraft fees have rebounded, according to Moebs Services, a financial research company in Lake Bluff, Ill. Overdraft revenue for U.S. financial institutions increased 2.1 percent to $31.5 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30. The $700 million increase came from a 3.6 percent increase in price and a 1.4 percent decrease in volume, Moebs said.